Friday, April 22, 2016

Bike rack didn't help make things safer

Civic leaders and Dutch Kills residents have a message for city transportation officials who installed a bicycle corral at a dangerous intersection to increase traffic safety in the Long Island City community.

“It didn’t work,” Dutch Kills Civic Association President Thea Romano said. Romano provided a photo of a recent collision at the intersection of 29th Street and 39th Avenue and said the crash is “proof of the ineffectiveness” of the traffic-calming measure installed at the site earlier this month by the Department of Transportation.

Eyewitnesses told police the driver of a yellow cab traveling eastbound on 39th Avenue at about 8 p.m. on April 13 slowed to a stop at 29th Street, to check for oncoming traffic.

As the cab inched forward, a speeding car tore through a stop sign on 29th Street and slammed into the cab, shattering glass as it screeched to a halt, the eyewitness said.

“It was a miracle that no one was killed,” Romano said. “How is a bicycle corral supposed to stop drivers from speeding up 29th Street? How many people will have to be injured or die here before someone takes steps to properly secure this intersection?”

28 comments:

The DOT has become as entrenched with corruption and incompetence as the DOB. There needs to be more info on this idiot restaurant owner and if some bribery in addition to lobbying went to build this obstruction. I surmise he or she is environmentally conscious and is oblivious to the actual environment around him or her.

City planning is getting more irresponsible and stupid as the impatient, selfish morons who continue to drive with reckless abandon.

Bikers have an agenda and they have the city by the nuts to get what they want. It's called shaking down in order to get what you want even though their demands make no sense. Ever wonder how the bike lanes on Queens Blvd were installed practically over night? It's all political folks. And the lanes are hardly used to boot..

The DOT is just following orders from above. When I questioned the bike lane usefulness at a recent community meeting the response from the CB head was "if we're going to get rid of the cars we have to do this". 'Nuff said.

It's called daylighting an intersection, so that if the person driving was not a clueless cabbie and was actually aware of their surroundings, they could have the opportunity to see that a speeding car was about to blow the stop sign. It doesn't matter what the DOT does. Some drivers will be reckless assholes, other drivers will be clueless idiots, and the people commenting here will continue to be curmudgeons, complaining that nothing is done, then complaining about the solutions offered. What would really prevent this? Lower speed limits, speed bumps, narrower traffic lanes. Implement that and you will really see the status quo agenda people bitching and moaning on here.

I wonder if Dominic Stiller is the restaurant owner that the Gazette article mentions. If CB1 and the Dot were not aware of the bike corral construction, how did he manage to convince a DOT crew to install it.

What you are all missing is the message; bicycles are the panacea for the city traveler.

Soon bicycles will have a whole lane in the Midtown Tunnel and a whole lane on the Queensboro Bridge (Oops, the Ed Koch Bridge) for LIC commuters.

It is the hipsters and millennials that matter. Those of us who live farther out in Queens do not matter even though we pay most of the taxes and do not live in tax abated co-ops, condos and apartments.

Get used to it!

Take the trolley (oops, we don't have one).

Take the 7 train (oops, it's always shut down or experiencing operational delays).

“We refuse to accept the excuse that the bicycle corral is going to increase safety at the intersection,”So rather then examine any actual data, she is basing her conclusion one one specific incident.

“They said none of our suggestions for increased safety were practical.”A DOT spokesperson said the agency determined the intersection did not meet necessary criteria for all-way stop signs or other requested safety measures.

Like there are never any significant accidents at four way stop signs or signal controlled intersections.

Most of our neighborhoods don't have any more capacity for private vehicle use or storage. Given the traffic and parking woes existing drivers face, it seems common sense that we need to pursue policies and designs that will facilitate other modes of travel.

Cars are the new guns to these idiots. Yeah, some people drive recklessly, but many many more ride their bikes like complete lunatics disobeying traffic laws, riding on sidewalks, etc. They don't have insurance, so if you get nailed by one of these assholes crossing the street, you are stuck with the medical bill, not mr. hot shot millennial who just saved the world while sucking down a latte.

The idea that we can magically get rid of cars is 100% unrealistic. The MTA fucking sucks. Bikes are not a commuting option to those who live further out (most people), have offices without showers (most people) or don't have the privilege of extra hours in the day to spend commuting (most people). The needs of the many should outway the needs of the privileged, especially when they have so much contempt for the rest of us.

How about this: fuck these assholes. Let them all move to some run down midwest city, make that into their car free experimental utopia, and leave us the fuck alone. NYC has problems, and none of them are going to be fixed by ramming bike lanes and bullshit down our throats. Fix the fucking subways first. Build more transit routes. Do simple shit to cut down on traffic - like a one seat rail ride to LGA and JFK. Then, maybe, we can add your stupid fucking bike rack.

"There are, but these are generally accepted as safety measured. I've never heard of a bike stand being a deterrent to anything."

Have you ever heard of daylighing an intersection? http://www.planetizen.com/node/81257/daylighting-nycs-most-dangerous-intersections

The bike rack simply makes use of the space that is already designated free from parked cars. It's funny because if the DOT simply put a no standing sign a few feet from the corner at this intersection, there would not even be a discussion. Put a bike rack in it and watch the haters emerge.

Some people actually do ride bikes you know, why shouldn't they also be entitled to some basic and frankly relatively inexpensive infrastructure.

I drive a car and truck daily, and ride a bike hardly ever. The sense of entitlement I see from car drivers on a daily basis is pretty absurd. Just because we own a car does not make us more important than anyone else.

There are many more complete lunatics on bikes, yes. Just because they have less serious accidents doesn't mean they follow rules better. They hop sidewalks, ride down the street the wrong way, whiteline in traffic, run red lights. We all have noticed this. You're much more likely to see a bike ignore a red light or stop sign than a car.

Yes. I have suggested several locations where I thought this would help motorists see each other, pedestrians and cyclists. DOT ignored every one. But here let's put up a bike rack to stop speeding and then make excuses when it doesn't work, including blaming the cabbie who wasn't at fault.

>complain traffic is a problem>mess up traffic even further with dangerous "solutions">use increased accidents to further justify cracking down on drivers>rinse and repeat until there are cameras everywhere

Please see the link to the video of the crash for the truth.It shows a large truck blocking the crosswalk, the taxi speeding and the other car involved not stopping at the stop sign. The article contains numerous examples of misinformation.The DOT never denied the bike corral application and they installed as bicycling infrastructure not as any kind of safety measure. Instead of speaking out against the dangerous drivers the community leaders mentioned in the article focus on a bike corral. But as an added bonus it functions as daylighting for the northern corner- protecting pedestriansIf only the press actually had done some journalistic investigation instead of seemingly taking dictation.https://vimeo.com/164777388

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